Local counselors saw a last-minute surge of people trying to sign up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline, and assistance is still available to help people through mid-April who qualify for special enrollment periods.

Special enrollment applies to people who were “in line” — online, over the phone or in person — to enroll by March 31 but who couldn’t complete an application for whatever reason.

The Affordable Care Act requires that most people have insurance this year or pay a penalty when they file their taxes next year. The deadline was extended in part because of delays experienced last fall with the federal enrollment site Healthcare.gov and because millions of people were trying to access the site in the final weeks and days leading up to and including March 31.

Janet Vrtol, in-person counselor regional program manager for the Stephenson County Health Department, said counselors — who are also referred to as navigators — were very busy last weekend, and appointments are filling up fast through April 15.

“Any available appointment, we are filling,” Vrtol said. “It seems like we’re keeping up right now.”

Navigators are asking people to make appointments as soon as possible so that there’s not another rush to sign up on April 15. Vrtol said on March 31, officials “just had call after call of people trying to get in and asking questions about the website.”

“If they’re thinking about it, they need to get in. They need to call,” Vrtol said.

In Boone, Stephenson and Winnebago counties, more people came in for help who needed or qualified for Medicaid, though marketplace enrollments did pick up closer to the deadline.

Navigators in Winnebago County helped people complete 3,885 applications and helped a total of 4,437 households. Officials estimate that there are about 40,000 uninsured people in the county.

Applications could include and cover several family members, and some people chose to complete applications on their own after seeking initial help, so the total number of local people who enrolled in health insurance by the deadline is unknown at this time.

Page 2 of 2 - Navigators in Winnebago County and with the Boone County Health Department reported that many people who showed up March 31 said that they didn’t realize they needed health insurance or they didn’t know about the deadline.

Cindy Frank, Boone County’s public health administrator, said about 40 people showed up to enroll on Monday, and officials were successful in getting people signed up for insurance or they made appointments for them before April 15.

“We do have three navigators here, but our schedules are totally booked. We don’t have a full-time navigator, so those three navigators are squeezing people into their schedules.

“We freed up our schedules for the next two weeks to fit in as many clients as we can. ... We want to get everybody in who wants to get in.”

People seeking help during the special enrollment period need to remember to bring proper documentation to their appointments, such as a driver’s license, Social Security card, birth certificate or passport, and income information.

If people didn’t try to sign up for insurance by March 31, the marketplace is closed until November unless a person experiences a qualifying life event such as getting married or having a baby. Medicaid enrollment is ongoing; the enrollment period for that program has not closed.

Navigators are funded by grants that run through the summer. Barker said that they’ll soon shift their efforts to helping people understand how to use their new insurance and continue to do outreach to specialized populations of people who may still be eligible for Medicaid and to educate people about the next marketplace open enrollment period coming up in November.